Special friends

Among my friends, I'm lucky to count a "speshol brown bear" and a "litol gween dwagon pwincess".....  That's right.  I have unusual friends.   And how I love it.

When I was down for the count just before Christmas; sick and coughing and aching all over and just downright miserable.....     I received a card from the two of them and it made my day.  They had drawn and coloured and written special messages just for me.  How cool is that?

I set it on a table with some other cards and looked at it several times during my wandering about trying to find somewhere comfortable to sit or lie... nowhere was any good.... so I kept on walking til I fell on the bed.

The next day I noticed that a late bud on the Christmas cactus had grown larger ... remember the plant?  It bloomed way back around the first of November.  There were a few extra little teeny buds on it that didn't amount to anything and fell off.  But, this bud stayed....

It got much bigger the next day and Dilly had her eye on it... the third day it opened slightly and the next day..it was in full bloom!  Oh, that did it...she moved her card right up close to it.  She loves pink and declared that it was the perfect colour and actually the very same colour ..as her "pwetty pink dwess" .. and, that she must sit right beside it.  She admired it for days ....

I had to take a few pics of them together ....

Of course, Bob T. Bear (esq.) ...  not to be outdone..... found a couple friends to hang out with as well.  Some sheepies and a mini Santa....

They kept it up for several days .....I never knew where to look for the card; some days it was on the sheep table..some days it was next to the cactus flower.  Seeing as Dilly found the flower first.... she got the most "me" time... well, that and she does have a very insistent way about her......

Thanks so much Bob and Dilly for my great card (and, the nose hugs!! )  You guys are the best!

and, then......it snowed.

My 'Christmas Cactus'..   which has bloomed on all sorts of days including American Thanksgiving... and, on Hallowe'en.... this year bloomed even a week earlier....it must have known something.

It's winter.... because the following Monday.....it snowed!

 The birdies were not best pleased.

I must dig out my heated birdie bath...and quick!

The snapdragons were still blooming away.... I must admit it was waaaay past the time when I would have expected it.  I just couldn't make myself pull them out when they continued to sprout flowers.

I've been looking at paper 'thingies' .......from older Paper, Cloth, Scissors mags......
look at the cute little purses....
No clue what I'm doing, but I'm trying a couple.

Winter has arrived

I hope it's not here to stay for the duration of the wintery months.... like, until spring...which in this part of the world could be, erm... May.....

We usually have plenty of sun though... and, we also usually have lovely warm spells called Chinooks... but, last year it was pretty much from Hallowe'en til .. oh, yeh...... May ....  darn it.  .........I hope this year is not like last year.

My Christmas cactus has bloomed; when is American Thanksgiving?   must be soon.... seeing as it usually blooms about then... so I changed its' name to that instead of Christmas cactus.  It might be finished blooming by next week this year...what the heck? ...

Those are new little ornies I found already.... it's kind of a tradition to buy a few new little things for the tree each year... and, to give away some of the other ones I've enjoyed for years....

The snow began to fall late Saturday night....

By morning the top of the patio wall was chest deep on sparrows... they don't look particularly pleased do they?
                                                                               





                                                                                 





They had a look at the bird bath.... hmmmm... the snow was beginning fill it as well... the water is frozen solid of course..... no bathing today guys!

I'm not sure they believed me.

They went away and didn't even bother looking at the feeder for seeds.  Hmmm.... weird.

I thought they would be hanging around all day til it was empty and then...beg for more.

The snow continued throughout the whole day yesterday .....

Cupid disappeared ...............

Definitely no bathing today guys........ but, did you notice the thermostatically heated bird water I put out? ...it's over in the patio .... come on back..........!!!  Not for swimming mind you...but, how 'bout a drink? ....

Awww... come on............ I paid good money for that thing....

had an idea...

...while stitching on the paper....
Why not FME some lace and silk onto my new 'master sheet' for my next pin pillow....

so, I did.. then added a few French Knots and some tiny Forget-Me-Knot flowers, which have become a trademark of sorts.... and, here is what it looks like in my little pin pillow view finder... yes...I like it... lots more to add yet ...but, so far I really like it.

And.... this is blooming.... isn't it beautiful?

Late bloomer

This cactus bloomed before Christmas .... it is Canadian...but, it usually blooms around American Thanksgiving ... I forget now when that is ...but, about a month before Christmas.

Posie was pretty impressed.

... but, I think she was more interested in this bit of gold fabric... is it 'silk tissue'?  Taffeta? ..

Poor cactus is in such poor soil and hardly any at that.  I'm a terrible person to my plants .... sigh .. no wonder they don't do major blooming like my sister's plants do.  She even re-pots hers and replenishes soil from time to time... practically unheard of around here I have to say.  This year.... I must do it.














Anyway... over a week ago I noticed a tiny pink bud and began to watch it ... gave it a big drink of water and lo and behold...one solitary beautiful flower appeared over the past few days ...















Gwendolyn really is quite thrilled with it ... honestly, .... she is ........ it's just a bit difficult to tell sometimes..........

late bloomer ....

My "Christmas Cactus".  This plant is pretty funny.  Every year it blooms before Christmas....  in November actually.  Flowers, of course, are then long gone by Christmas.

What now?.... a single guy appeared several days ago.  As I walked past it I was thinking ..wonder why that little nub just didn't fall off when the others did.  And, why haven't I noticed it earlier?  I almost flicked it off and tossed it into the pot as I usually do with the little bits that never become flowers.

On closer inspection... a live one!

And today??

Wow.

I crawled right under the coffee table and took one from the underside .... because to me...that looks more like it should be topside.  Best angle to me... what a beauty!

Maybe the snowflakes coaxed it along.....

Break out those flannelette 'jammies!

Brrrr......  I hope you have them if you have weather like ours in your winter!  I love mine.  My 'jammies that is ...not my bitter cold weather.

After having such a lovely long and unusually warm fall, the thermometer has plummeted like a stone ..  and, this morning...it is -16C... but, the weather channel says it feels more like -24 C because of the breeze.  It is snowing lightly....just a few dainty flakes swirling around and up and down...like a flurry of tiny, light feathers..... not much on the ground really. .. just enough to make it miserable on some of the roads.  A good time to stay home.  Which I seem to be doing a lot of the past month, with the exception of my physio and massage visits.  Still working on my wonky elbow.  It is still preventing me from doing much with my hands too..... so.... I've been trying to do some tidying, cleaning ...(mostly using my left hand it seems) ...and... baking...with the help of my trusty stand mixer.

Eggnog has been in stores for weeks already if you can believe it.  Eggnog loaf....mmmm.....

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Apparently, the pronator muscle in particular is so tight it is tearing away from the bony knob (called an epicondyle) on the inner part of my elbow area.  My physio is using several 'modalities' as they like to call them... to work on it.  Everything from "dry needling" to magnetic massage, to ultra sound and interferential current.... and some heat packing and manipulation along with some neck and shoulder realignment ..... There has been some slight relief and the pronator is somewhat softer now...but, honestly.... I am shocked that it is taking so long to show any sign of improvement.  I was hoping that just not whacking any golf balls would help...but, after almost a month of not hitting anything it was not better at all....so I had to break down and start some treatment.  As slowly as anything seems to be healing, I am more than disappointed to say the least.  And..it has taken its toll on my sense of humour.  My motivation just seemed to disappear right along with my sense of humour, as well as my hope for immediate relief from the pain, and my feeling of usefulness.  I'm sure all my baking and cooking is just to prove to myself that I am not just a total slob sitting around... that I am actually worth something to someone, even if only to me.

This week, I am beginning to think about cleaning my crafting room...as it has become a repository for just about everything I didn't know what to do with or couldn't be bothered with during golf season and nice weather......... and now...acckkk!!  Where to begin!?

I think I need to purge.  Big.Time!  Perhaps it's time I even decided on what I am NOT going to bother with over the next 300 years and toss all of the stuff associated with those hobbies, crafts and endeavours.  Yep.  It's time.

Maybe I will have a give-away of various packets of "stuff" ... and somebody who will actually get some use from it can leave comments and I will happily send it to them.  That's the ticket.  I will get busy and package up 'things'... .tidy my room and get back to dolls and bears.... which in reality, will probably be the only two things I ever actually do in the hobby department......

My Christmas cactus is blooming...it loves this time of year.  Usually it blooms about American Thanksgiving time....that must be coming up soon....  and my other one may bloom for Christmas...I have no idea why, but somebody told me one time that there are different cacti and some do bloom for this time of year.  Here he is.... with a new little ornie that I found in my travels lately....

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AND::   As much as I want to win this little guy for myself.....I would like to send you to Cat's blog to have a chance to win one of her little sweeties.  Maybe a bit of karma will work in my favour if I share?.... heh heh.....

Waaaay early...

I bought a new Christmas Cactus this year.  I'm a sucker for some of the little plants, placed perfectly, just inside the door at my local Safeway.  They know how to lure us in.... I always have to stop and look at the new little guys.  The new pots...the vases.... all of them perfectly positioned, just to have me do exactly that.  Mostly I just look...but...the odd time...I have to take one home.  It's more like a plant orphanage....

It was loaded with buds.  And now...this thing has been in bloom for a week already!  I think somehow they must force them to bloom early in order to get them on sale soon enough to sell all of them....but, by Christmas... of course, all the blooms are gone.  I wish they would bloom on and on...til Christmas.
I wonder what date they will bloom next year?

The past few years... my older cactus bloomed on or about American Thanksgiving....but, this year?  .... wha' hoppen'??  somebody is very confused.  Maybe the weather? maybe I just overwatered even a tiny smidgen? .. maybe it got less hours of daylight and thought it was later in the year already?  Who knows......

Anyway.... this was my older cactus... last week.....

This week it is in full bloom...well, all the blooms that are going to open because some buds just die on the tips of the leaves and never do open.  I can't upload the photos I took this morning....my USB cable is ..."at the office" ... somebody else is using my camera.

My old one never gets buds on the short pieces of stem that stick straight up out of the pot so it makes me nervous to nip off any of the longer stems ...... this new guy has tons of buds and blooms on all the short stalks....  more investigation is necessary..... the mystery continues....

..even early for Thanksgiving....

My Christmas Cactus has its first bloom... I always said the silly thing must be a Thanksgiving Cactus ... and American Thanksgiving at that... traitor cactus.... !!

Our Thanksgiving was way back in October...

By Christmas..its sleeping again.

Christmas Cactus...

Last year my cactus was only a year old and even though it had several blooms the day I bought it.... when it reached the anniversary... only 3 blooms appeared. I did get some great shots of those flowers though and was thrilled that it had survived the year as I haven't really been able to keep one alive in the past. My sister has several and they are ancient, huge and have zillions of blooms...(not only at Christmas but it seems to me whenever I go there).... maybe not zillions...but you know what I mean...she has the greenest thumb I've ever seen. Or, it could be that she treats them a lot better.... actually adds new dirt and re-pots them sort of regularly...... my guys usually just live in the pot in which they appear....forever...... or, til they die. Tsk, shame on me....











About a month ago I noticed some tiny buds forming at most of the tips! That was pretty exciting for me and I wanted to do the right thing. It says in the info that they flower because of the reduced light and heat at this time of year...so I wanted to make sure "my guy" knew what time of year it was even though it lives in artificial light and heat. I moved it to the cooler, darker room... my craft room. The curtains are usually closed and lights off in there....











Now, it's back where I can admire the blooms...and if they fall off...well, c'est la vie. I am enjoying them for now...










AND.... this I can't believe. My Hoya got a new leaf! A real shocker because I definitely mistreated this poor little guy. It began as a cutting from an ancient Hoya my brother had.... and he had miles of it all around a window...that always bloomed and smelled so wonderful. For several years it was a bright, healthy green... but, to my disappointment, never did flower. One summer, early in the morning on a nice day, I decided to really dust and wash all my plants. Took them outside onto the sunny patio......you can see it already can't you? ..... sigh.....yes, I kind of "forgot" them for a few hours and the day turned into a blistering one. Ohhhh...my poor plants. I'm sure what happened to my Hoya was the equivalent of a severe sun burn. The leaves went all pale and dry looking...it never actually recovered. It never died...but never did grow another leaf. One spring, years after my cruelty, it sprouted a little stem thingy and all of a sudden a flower bunch appeared. Imagine my surprise. Every spring it flowers... and sometimes even twice a year I get that beautiful scent and a little flower bunch...always on the same stalk..which is now about 2 inches long. It just begins at the end of that stalk every time. I talk to it and tell it what an amazing little guy it is ... to sprout such a beautiful bloom after my cruel treatment. And, now... a leaf. Wow... I can't understand it or figure out why... but, I hope it continues .. Maybe I should break down and re-pot it...

This is really weird::: I looked back to check when my cactus bloomed last year and guess what? It was right now. Exactly to the day! I joked about it being the Thanksgiving Cactus for the American bloggers.... how amazing is that?